Staging Light
by Carl Olson

From: National Dragster, May 12, 2000, p. 7.

"Dedicated to Safety" was the founding motto of the National Hot Rod Association at the time of its inception in 1951. Nearly a half-century later, those words might no longer appear on the NHRA logo, but the association’s unwavering commitment to safety is stronger than ever.

It hasn’t been easy. Racers have always concentrated the bulk of their efforts and resources toward the pursuit of performance. The rationale has always been that "good safety equipment doesn’t win races." Call it human nature.

Only a complete fool, however, would deny that the combination of brute power, speed, and human error can lead to danger. Racing accidents have always been a fact of life, and probably always will be. It comes with the territory. When you push man and machine to and beyond established limits, eventually there’s going to be an accident.

With that said, the NHRA has worked tirelessly to see to it that accidents rarely result in serious injury to drivers, crew members, officials, or spectators. It has endeavored to mandate the safest facilities, vehicles, and protective equipment for drivers. It has been embraced state-of-the-art technologies to deal with the issues of incident management and containment. In simple terms, that means trying to make sure things don’t fail but, if they do, keeping the damage concentrated within the confines of the vehicle.

As racers continue to "push the envelope," it’s necessary to not only keep pace with evolution, but to anticipate and prepare for it. In the early days of the sport, most safety related rules were created in direct response to serious - and sometimes catastrophic - incidents. NHRA certainly cannot predict every problem which might arise. But today, thanks to the development of such concepts as "risk analysis and loss control," most potential problems are identified and dealt with before they have a chance to wreak havoc, not after.

The result is that, even with its astronomical performances and speeds, drag racing is undeniably safer today than it has been at any time in its history. That’s a real tribute to everyone who’s worked so hard, overt the years, to keep the pace of safety improvements well ahead of advancements in power and speed.

NHRA, along with everyone involved in our great sport, owes a great debt of gratitude to the many individuals and organizations which have dedicated untold hours, months, and even years toward the pursuit of safety. That list includes most of the pioneering and contemporary performance equipment manufacturers. It also includes the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), which established the first minimum specifications for safety related equipment; the SFI Foundation, Inc., which assumed the SEMA program and carried it to new heights; the Snell Memorial Foundation; the U.S. Department of Transportation; and many others.

This issue of National DRAGSTER is a tribute to those individuals and organizations. It also contains a wealth of useful information regarding the prudent selection and application of safety related equipment. It should be required reading for every racer.

As the NHRA Winston Drag Racing moves into the 21st century, the challenges of keeping the sport as safe as possible will not abate. Everyone must do their part, and that starts with the racers themselves. The next time you’re faced with the unpleasant task of acquiring or upgrading your safety equipment, your questions shouldn’t be "which is the cheapest and the lightest," but rather "which is the very best for this particular application."

In the final analysis, who won the race isn’t nearly as important as the fact that everyone went home healthy, happy and able to race another day.